1. Field of the Invention
Exemplary aspects of the present invention relate to an image forming apparatus, a toner container, and a process cartridge, and more particularly, to an image forming apparatus, a toner container, and a process cartridge for collecting toner.
2. Description of the Related Art
A related-art image forming apparatus, such as a copying machine, a facsimile machine, a printer, or a multifunction printer having two or more of copying, printing, scanning, and facsimile functions, forms a toner image on a recording medium (e.g., a sheet) according to image data by an electrophotographic method. For example, a charger charges a surface of a photoconductor. An optical writer emits a light beam onto the charged surface of the photoconductor to form an electrostatic latent image on the photoconductor according to the image data. A developing device develops the electrostatic latent image with a developer (e.g., toner) to form a toner image on the photoconductor. The toner image is transferred from the photoconductor onto a sheet via an intermediate transfer belt. A cleaner cleans the surface of the photoconductor after the toner image is transferred from the photoconductor. A fixing device applies heat and pressure to the sheet bearing the toner image to fix the toner image on the sheet. Thus, the toner image is formed on the sheet.
The image forming apparatus may include, a plurality of chargers, photoconductors, developing devices, and cleaners to form a color toner image on a sheet at an increased speed. For example, a tandem-type image forming apparatus includes four image forming devices each of which includes a charger, a photoconductor, a developing device, and a cleaner. The tandem-type image forming apparatus further includes an intermediate transfer belt and a cleaner for cleaning the intermediate transfer belt. Thus, the tandem-type image forming apparatus has a large size and occupies a large space.
Waste toner not used for forming an image is collected from the four photoconductors and the intermediate transfer belt by five cleaners, that is, four cleaners included in the four image forming devices and one cleaner for cleaning the intermediate transfer belt. The collected waste toner is sent to a waste toner container via a pipe. Since the five cleaners collect a substantial amount of waste toner, the waste toner container and the pipe have a large size and occupy a large space. To address this problem, the waste toner container and the pipe need to be effectively arranged so as to occupy a smaller space. Further, the waste toner container needs to be effectively filled with an increased amount of waste toner at an increased filling rate so as to have a compact size. To increase the filling rate of the waste toner container, the waste toner container may include a conveying screw or an agitator for conveying or agitating waste toner, respectively. The waster toner container may be blow-molded to reduce manufacturing costs.
When the waster toner container is blow-molded, an inner surface of a wall of the waste toner container is not formed with a mold. Thus, the inner surface of the wall may be undulated. When a conveying screw is provided inside the waste toner container, a bearing formed in the wall of the waste toner container supports a rotating shaft of the conveying screw penetrating the wall. A seal member seals the bearing. However, when the seal member contacts the undulated inner surface of the wall to seal the bearing, the seal member may not apply uniform pressure against the undulated inner surface of the wall. For example, the seal member may not properly seal the bearing at a portion where the seal member applies decreased pressure on the wall, and waste toner may adhere to the seal member, the bearing, and/or the rotating shaft of the conveying screw at a portion where the seal member applies increased pressure on the wall.